


Magical Schools

by BananaWombat (orphan_account)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts, Magical Schools, around the world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-22 18:25:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2517473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/BananaWombat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My idea of magical schools around the world, because this is a fascinating idea that won't leave me alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The American Academies

The magical schools in America are unique, as there are several scattered around the country, but they all use the same systems and houses. The core schools are in Kansas (on the border near Nebraska), New York City, and Nevada, near Oregon. There is also a very popular all-girls institute in Salem. There is a relatively isolated school in Alaska, who have certain unique twists to their habits and traditions.

**THE HOUSES**

_BEARCREST_

**Animal:** Grizzly bear

 **Colours:** Gold, tan and green

 **Element:** Earth

 **Season:** Autumn

 **Qualities:** Brave, tough, protective, territorial, gentle with loved ones

 **Weaknesses:** Can come across as overly aggressive, don't make friends easily, have the highest rate of sporting accidents

 **Differences with the Forget-Me-Not Academy of Alaska:** Black bear instead of a grizzly bear

_EAGLEDEAN_

**Animal:** Bald eagle

 **Colours:** Blue (almost navy) and white

 **Element:** Air

 **Season:** Spring

 **Qualities:** Sharp minds, honesty, quick to learn, independent, observant

 **Weaknesses:** Blunt honesty can come across as rudeness, cynical, can seem cold and indifferent

 **Differences with the Forget-Me-Not Academy of Alaska:** Eagledean students are the 'florists' of the school, in charge of celebratory bouquets and flower arrangements and they score the highest in Herbology out of the whole country. It's not uncommon to see sprigs of monkshood, forget-me-nots and wild iris tucked behind ears and in lapels.

_JACKTAIL_

**Animal:** Black-tailed jackrabbit

 **Colours:** Black, grey and maroon

 **Element:** Fire

 **Season:** Summer

 **Qualities:** inquisitive, fun, humorous, smart, cunning

 **Weaknesses:** sly, 'curiosity killed the cat' applies almost too well

 **Differences With the Forget-Me-Not Academy of Alaska:** Ties are speckled with white, score high in Care of Magical Creatures due to their natural talents with wild animals. Have the highest percentage of pets out of the whole school.

_GATORSKIN_

**Animal:** American alligator

 **Colours:** Purple and dark green

 **Element:** Water

 **Season:** Winter

 **Qualities:** endless patience, excellent with hexes, talented healers, introverted, not easily intimidated

 **Weaknesses:** anger is cold and thus extraordinarily dangerous, difficulty accepting general authority, withdrawn personalities, ruthless

 **Differences With the Forget-Me-Not Academy of Alaska:** Everything the same except the name and animal - house name is Wolfridge and the symbol is a grey wolf.

 

**CORE SCHOOLS**

_**The Empire State School** _

**Location:** New York City

 **Symbol:** circle with five multicoloured arrows pointing inwards

 **Motto:** _People are important no matter what, who or where_ , repeated in the many languages of the students - the most common being English, French, Italian, Chinese and German

 **History, Anomalies and Atmosphere:** Founded in 1860 - making it one of the most youthful magic schools in the world - by an Irish Hogwarts graduate and immigrant (one of the influx at the time), Maeve Hughes-Connelly, The Empire State School is probably the most multicultural magical institute in the world. Students are popular buskers, and a secret, exclusively magical subway system runs underground all over the city due to the busy streets limiting broomstick use. There is a secret location under the Statue of Liberty that houses a large number of resources and provides a refuge from any sort of invasion, emergency and general daily stresses. It's also the only American magic school with a common motto.

 

_**The Sunflower State Academy** _

**Location:** Kansas, border of Nebraska

 **Symbol:** Sunflower and stalk of wheat crossed

 **History, Anomalies and Atmosphere:** No-one is quite sure of when it was founded, but the Academy is a large, slightly worn marble manor house with students ranging as wide as Texas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado and almost the entire magical population of Nebraska. The main school library is actually in Wichita, in an enormous unplottable mansion, books filling every room to the brim. Cookery is a popular class and they are one of the only schools that offer it as a regular. The school is, needless to say, an enormous and immensely popular one, filled with half-visible (and many nameless) ghosts nicknamed 'Sandies' due to their habits of flickering in and out of sight and their tan, grainy appearances.

 

_**The Silver Institute of Nevada and Oregon** _

**Location:** Borderline of Nevada and Oregon

 **Symbol:** Sagebrush flower

 **History, Anomalies and Atmosphere:** Founded in 1804 by Spanish wizard Hugo Fernandez, the Silver Institute caters to the magic-users of California and other surrounding states. A long, snaking train of buildings stretching through forest and even a small mountain range, the rooftops are plated with a soft silver material - which contributed to the name - and spells to help the flora and fauna are popular among the pupils. Campfires are lit during the winter, and a large redwood tree - nicknamed Iapetus (the Greek Titaness of mortality) - bears the weight of hundred of slips of paper (charmed to be waterproof) with messages to the beloved deceased. It seems at first morbid, but is instead considered a happy, soothing place.

 

_**The Forget-Me-Not Academy of Alaska** _

**Location:** Alaska

 **Symbol:** Brown bear

 **History, Anomalies and Atmosphere:** What began as a small educational group within the tribes of indigenous people blossomed into an enormous school hidden inside a hollowed-out mountain. Study of the surrounding wildlife is by far the most popular topic, and the school has become famous for its' students being free to wander off into the wilderness for 'educational purposes'. Despite the initial dangers this seems to suggest, the pupils come back refreshed and successfully de-stressed. Magic learners flock from all over the globe to the Academy due to vast range of plants and wild animals it offers for studying.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. China

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chinese Institutes of Magic, of which there is one core and several smaller.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please do tell me if any of this is wrong, racist or could be improved. I'm horrifically white and one of the things I least want to be is racist or offensive. Chinese mythology, folklore and culture is so rich and beautiful and intricate and I wanted to incorporate as much as I could.

**CHINESE HOUSE SORTING**

The sorting system in China is complicated. There are two main houses, Yin and Yang, and twelve sub-houses - six each. Females are exclusively in Yin and males exclusively in Yang. The sub-houses are far less strict than the main houses, mingling frequently and completely disregarding the year system of the zodiac that they were named after.

**Yin Sub-Houses and Symbols**

Ox - peach blossom

Rabbit - snapdragon

Snake - orchid

Goat - carnation

Rooster - gladiola

Pig - hydrangea

**Yang Sub-Houses and Symbols**

Rat - lily of the valley

Tiger - cineraria

Dragon - bleeding heart vine

Horse - marigold

Monkey - chrysanthemum

Dog - rose

 

**SCHOOLS**

_The Beijing Institute of Magic_

**Symbol:** the Pagoda tree

 **History and Atmosphere:** one of the very oldest concentrations of magical learning in the world, dating right back to the 11th century BC. The magic has developed, but the celebrations are traditional and the surroundings awe-inspiring. It is mostly in one large ornate building (unplottable, of course) in the core of the city, but there are several small outposts for refuge, quiet or practicing more dangerous incantations. The school is prestigious, admitting only some of the best and brightest young magic-users, and producing genius witches and wizards. It has an enchanted bubble around it that regulates the weather, keeping it delicately warm and perfectly kept, no matter what the weather outside.

 

_Guiyang School of Magic_

**Symbol:** Baihua Lake

 **History and Atmosphere:** One of the newer magical education centers - founded because the residents of Kunming and other towns in the region were complaining of the distance they were expected to cover to reach the Beijing Institute - the Guiyang School is an intricate web mapping across the city, more of a college than anything else. Classes are mostly voluntary, but pupils are eager to learn and quick to catch up on subjects.

 

There are several more schools further out, ranging from Burqin, right around the border to Shiquanhe and everywhere in between. There are marginally larger ones in Golmud, Xining and Lhasa.


End file.
